Rebecca Butler, 34, and Tom Sheehan, 50, of Champaign wanted their daughter, Clementine, to be born at home. Rebecca's two other daughters, Sage and Lotus, were hospital births. Both were stressful and out-of-control experiences for Rebecca.

"More than 160 schools in Illinois, including South Side Elementary in Effingham, will participate in a multi-state earthquake drill next February.

During the "Great Central U.S. ShakeOut," residents of nine states - Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas and Oklahoma - will practice the recommended "Drop, Cover and Hold On" protective actions. Participants will drop to the floor, take cover under sturdy furniture and hold on to it until the hypothetical shaking stops.

South Side Elementary's first- and second-grade students participate in earthquake drill once or twice a year, said Principal Amy Niebrugge.

"We present it as: We practice, just like, to become a better reader, we practice; to become better as a sport, we practice," she said. "So, for a drill, we're just practicing, so we know what to do."

Plus, students get to be a part of an event that has attracted nearly 640 schools from the region.

"I think it will be neat for the students to be involved in something that will be on the news," she said.

The hurt caused by Friday’s horrific shooting in Newtown, Connecticut goes beyond the victims killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Across the country, children are learning about the shooting, and they’re also being affected.

The mayor of Indianapolis announced Wednesday that the city is taking a major step toward energy independence. It plans to replace its entire non-police fleet with electric or hybrid vehicles by 2025, the first major U.S. city to do so.

The city will buy about 30 to 50 energy efficient cars each year to replace its 470 sedans. It estimates it will save $12,000 per vehicle.

City spokesman Marc Lotter said the mayor, a retired Marine and Gulf War veteran, wants to change the national discussion on energy and foreign policy.

"Our dependence on foreign oil is putting our troops' lives in harm's way, it's costing our taxpayers billions of dollars each year in military expenditures, and it's something we no longer have to do because the technology is there," Lotter said.

The city hopes to replace its heavy trucks, like trash collectors and fire engines, to run on Compressed Natural Gas, Lotter said. It also wants to work with car manufacturers to develop plug-in hybrid police cars.

The devastation caused by Superstorm Sandy not only meant federal agencies and groups like the Red Cross took immediate action, but other expertise was needed in a number of areas, including utility workers.

A mental health agency in Champaign is working to reduce the stigma around mental illness, which it says affects about a quarter of American adults every year.

Community Elements Social Worker Linda Culton said the agency will hold a two-day Mental Health First Aid training course next week, where people will learn how to help someone going through a mental health crisis.

"It's a way to debunk so many myths that are out there and to, dare I say, normalize," she said. "You know, we don't always think of normalizing mental illness, but depression and anxiety are mental illnesses, and who hasn't experienced - or who doesn't know someone having problems with - those issues."

Culton said the organization's first workshop in September received encouraging feedback from participants.

"They loved it,"" she added. ""People used it in conjunction with their work, in conjunction with some of their other community activities. They used it in conjunction with their family members.""

The program includes discussions, film clips, and hands-on activities. It is open to anyone, and especially to those who might know or work with individuals with mental illness - such as friends and family, police officers, or faith leaders.

The 12-hour certification course costs $90 and includes lunch both days. It will be held Dec. 13 and 14 at 1801 Fox Drive in Champaign.

World AIDS Day is Saturday. A grass roots movement started in 1988, the day is a rallying cry for people to unite in the fight against HIV, but lately, one central Illinois woman feels the HIV battle has slipped from the national health radar, and she wants to do something about it.

About 34 million people worldwide are living with HIV, and 2.5 million people were infected last year despite a drop in new infections during the past decade.

Kat Griffith, 42, of rural Metamora sits in her living room with her boxer dog, Apollo. At her left on the sofa is a pile of medicine bottle. As she counts up the medications she must take, Griffith reflects on another milestone --- the day she learned she was HIV positive.

"To say that it was traumatic would be an understatement," Griffith said.

Griffith learned she had the disease on May 26, 1992, when she was 21 years old while attending college in Colorado.

Given two years to live, Griffith quit school one week before finals and flew to Tennessee to be with her ailing boyfriend, the one who had infected her.

On the journey, Griffith read a book she said completely changed her outlook called "Love Medicine and Miracles" by Dr. Bernie Siegel. The book touts the philosophy of healing the life, rather than the disease.

"I have always been a head on person," Griffith said. "The way that I thought about life and this disease, and all of those things was really impacted by that book."

Griffith went back to college, and today is a social work graduate student at Illinois State University. She improved her diet, exercised and took up meditation. Griffith also takes her HIV drug cocktail.

Most recently, true to her head-on fashion, she has become an HIV activist. She attended the International Conference on AIDS in Washington DC and the U.S. Conference on AIDS in Las Vegas this past summer.

Griffith said she is still uncomfortable speaking publicly about her fight, but feels it has to be done to fill the silence that has fallen around HIV in this country.

"Nobody's talking about it anymore," she said.

Michael Maginn heads up the Peoria-based group, Central Illinois Friends of People with AIDS. He said learning how to fight HIV kept it in the headlines in the 80's and 90's.

"So many people were dying before. It was like a battlefield," Maginn said. "There were no antiviral regimens. They didn't know who to combat it."

Maginn said when the drug cocktails came along, the disease was pushed off the front page.

Dr. Donna McCree with the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta agrees. McCree said medical advances have created a false sense of security in the public mind. She said that effective treatments have lead to the belief that HIV is not a major health threat anymore.

"Once we saw the advent of the effective treatments and people being tested and going into care there was a sort of decrease in having HIV discussions right out at the forefront," McCree said.

McCree said there is still a significant amount of stigma that is associated with HIV/AIDS, even after three decades of grappling with the disease.

"That can keep individuals from talking about it," McCree said. "That's one of the things that we want to address, that is taking aim at the apathy and at the stigma that help fuel HIV in this country."

The CDC is taking aim with the launch of a new campaign, "Let's Stop HIV Together," which focuses at getting HIV back on the radar of all Americans.

McCree said stigma keeps people from taking action to protect themselves and others from the disease.

Michael Maginn, with the Central Illinois Friends of People with AIDS said that's a struggle.

"It's not a warm and fuzzy disease, and it's not easy to put a face on this disease, because there's so much stigma related to it," Maginn said.

Maginn said activism can break down the walls of stigma, and that Kat Griffith brings a strong voice to the discussion. She acknowledges that she makes people squirm by talking about HIV because people then realize just how vulnerable they are to the disease.

"Anytime usually when you get the 'how did you get it' question, what's behind that is 'how can I differentiate myself from you?' And how can I see myself as different from you so that I know that I can still keep doing what I'm doing and not have to worry,'" Maginn said.

Griffith knows the discrimination too well. She has advanced kidney failure and is currently on a transplant list.

"Just in the last couple of days I've heard a couple of different people say, 'Why would you give a kidney to her?" Griffith said. "She's going to be dead anyway.' And that's just the kind of general thought. And it's also prevalent in the medical profession, too. There's doctors that think that."

According to the CDC, there are 1.1 million Americans living with HIV, and 1 in 5 are unaware they are infected. Meanwhile, 50,000 people are newly infected every year.

Donna McCree said there needs to be an open discussion of HIV, as with other chronic diseases.

"We want to get that conversation back out there and keep it out there so we can have an impact on what's going on," McCree said.

Michael Maginn from Friends of People with AIDS said activism from Kat Griffith and others can help spur interest in new research and get pharmaceutical companies to seek a cure.

"They're doing wonderful work in trying to work with bone marrow and effecting the cells regenerative process of not regenerating the disease in new cell work," Maginn said. "So I think it's very encouraging."

Griffith tries to remain positive, using social media as a part of her activism and education about HIV, but she feels more people need to come out as HIV positive and become activists. Meanwhile, Griffith refuses to give in and fights on against the disease and its stigma.

"In a lot of cases, people still see me as dying and here I am, 21 years later still not doing it," Griffith said.

Griffith hopes a cure will eventually put her out of the activism business. In the meantime, she is speaking at the Methodist Medical Center in Peoria at an event that marks World AIDS Day.

Meanwhile, World AIDS Day in Champaign-Urbana will be marked by a candlelight vigil, organized by the Greater Community AIDS Project (G-CAP).

This year, World AIDS Day is continuing the theme of "Getting to Zero" - that is, the elimination of AIDS fatalities, discrimination against people with AIDS and new AIDS infections. The theme is an important one to Mike Benner, G-CAP's executive director.

Benner said he is encouraged by new research in treating and one day, finding a cure for AIDS, but he thinks stopping the spread of new AIDS infections is a more immediate possibility.

"Everybody's goal is to have no new HIV infections," Benner said. "And that's something that is possible within our lifetimes. It's going to take a lot of work on everybody's part."

G-CAP got its start in 1985, just three years before the start of World AIDS Day. The organization provides services and support for people with HIV and AIDS, and education about the disease and its prevention to the community.

Benner said G-CAP began holding a World AIDS Day candlelight vigil several years ago, after he saw a similar vigil held in Danville.

"Being someone that's been involved with the HIV community since the very early days, I lost a great number of friends," Benner said. "And I just thought it (the vigil) was a way to pay tribute to them."

G-CAP's candlelight vigil is scheduled for Saturday, 4:30 PM at West Side Park, located just west of downtown Champaign.

When G-CAP and World AIDS Day were started, the first medical treatments for HIV and AIDS were just getting launched. Benner said he looks forward to a day when there are no new AIDS infections, and eventually, no more deaths due to AIDS. But he said more research and education is needed.

Supporters of both Israel and Palestine are uniting for the common goal of peace during a candlelight vigil Wednesday night on the University of Illinois&#8217; Urbana campus.

The event, which is co-sponsored by several student organizations, including Students for Justice in Palestine and Israel Illini, comes in response to recent violence between Israel and Palestine.

Israel Illini Vice-President Elaad Applebaum said the vigil will show that people on both sides of the aisle can work together.

"We all support peace, regardless of which side we may or may not support or what beliefs we hold. We all want peace," Applebaum said. "It's not about politics; it';s about solidarity with the victims of violence on both sides."

The vigil could unite community members with conflicting perspectives and agendas, according to Tariq Shihadah, the president of Students for Justice in Palestine.

"The purpose of tonight's vigil is to bring together a diverse group of people, to understand the underlying humanity of both sides, and to honor the lives of those who were lost, and to realize how similar we are," Shihadah said.

The vigil begins at 8pm at Alma Mater Plaza on the corner of Green and Wright Streets in Urbana, and it will include readings of Palestinian and Israeli poems.

Event organizers ask participants not to bring any banners, signs or flags.

"Communities across east central Illinois are gearing up for the holiday season.

Work has begun on Champaign's Christmas tree. The tree will be lit at the Parade of Lights on Saturday, Nov. 24, at 6 p.m.

"We turned it in to make sure it's kind of the kickoff to the holiday season, and the response has been great. The crowds were tremendous last year, even with the rain, and so we're looking for another great showing this year," said TJ Blakeman, executive director of Champaign City Partnership,

Blakeman said First Street is the next part of the city to be officially decorated.

"We're putting lights on the light poles this Saturday from 11 to 3 o'clock," he said. "We're looking for volunteers to come out and help with that."

Volunteers can help put up lights in Champaign at 34 Main Street, on the corner of Walnut and Main. Also, next Saturday, Nov. 24 marks the first day of Shop Local Saturday, a day of promotions in Champaign small businesses every Saturday until Christmas.

Meanwhile, Danville is kicking off the holiday season on Thursday, Nov. 14 with its annual "Night of Lights" holiday parade. Festivities kick off with a chili dinner at 3 p.m., followed by live music and family reading night on the lawn of the Danville Public Library.

"It's actually pretty amazing how many people will come down for the parade because it's usually pretty cold, and they'll be sitting in their cars lined along the parade route, as well as lined along the sidewalks, down all the way through downtown with all the kids bundled up," said Dana Schaumburg, the executive director of Downtown Danville Inc. "It's just a fun, frosty atmosphere."

There will also be a Christmas Parade in Decatur this Saturday, Nov. 17, at 5:30 p.m., and in Rantoul on Saturday, Dec. 1 at 10 a.m.

Urbana's Lincoln Square Mall is hosting a holiday market of local vendors every Saturday through Dec. 15.